Rhubarb BBQ Sauce

Rhubarb BBQ Sauce

Rhubarb BBQ Sauce

It's that time of year when the garden is coming to life and the cooler weather fruit and veg thrive.

This year, finally, I have a great stash of rhubarb and have been stewing, pie-ing, saucing and preserving for the last few weeks.

So, after making all the things one would normally make with rhubarb I started looking around for different ideas.
In particular I was looking at marinades and cooking with meat recipes that I might be able to force onto my unsuspecting guests for dinner.

Rhubarb has great natural acidity when raw and a beautiful sweetness when cooked which, in my humble opinion, makes it an ideal partner for fatty meats such as pork.
A lot of people use rhubarb solely for desserts and sweet dishes but don't be scared to think outside of the box especially if you have a prolific rhubarb plant giving you plenty of teriffic fruit.

I did find a nice "rhubarb slaw" recipe that I considered but really wanted to try something completely different so Rhubarb BBQ Sauce was the answer or Rhu-BBQ Sauce as I call it.

I have to say I was sceptical that it wouldn't work and that I would have lost a great bunch of rhubarb to the bin but it totally works.
I mentioned in the recipe to add salt and pepper for seasoning but for me it needed nothing and even the amount of spice was right. It's rare that you get a new recipe completely right first time around.

For me, pork or chicken are great accompaniments with this sauce. I will be making, and very much looking forward to eating, chicken burgers this weekend and slathering them with this Rhubarb BBQ Sauce.

Make sure you keep the sauce in the fridge when it's done and if you are a "canner" then this will be a greta little addition to your library.

Place all ingredients in a saucepan and stir well to mix everything together.
Bring to the boil then turn heat to simmer for 20 minutes until the onion is soft.
Blend the mixture until smooth using either a hand blender, blender or food processor.
Pass the puree through a sieve to take out any stringy bits etc
Addf water to thin to your preferred consistency - I left mine thick-ish
Add salt and pepper to taste

You're done!

The sauce should last for a couple of weeks if refrigerated correctly.

Drink This:

Remember the one of the golden rules about food and wine pairing:

Sweet and Sour work well together - so if your dish has some sourness to it (rhubarb tends to be a bit sour) then a sweeter wine will work ok with it.

For this sauce, as it is a bit sweet and sour-ish and has a touch of spice from the Cayenne i'd go with a white.
Try this Gewurtztraminer for size